MGM Television To Develop “American Gladiators” Revival

Last week, MGM announced its plans to create a second revival of the adrenaline-pumping competition series Actor Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg will serve as executive producers and John Ferraro, the producer of the original version, is also involved with the reboot.

Running in syndication from 1989-1996 and on NBC in 2008, American Gladiators pits average contestants against each other and extraordinary athletes in a series of physical challenges and obstacle courses during a season-long tournament. According to Deadline, MGM is currently meeting with distributors to sell the project.

Former NFL players Larry Csonka and Mike Adamle were the hosts for a majority of the original run and Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali were the tandem hosts for the two-season NBC revival.

In addition to American Gladiators, there are a few upcoming shows in the works whose format is similar to the series, including NBC’s The Titan Gamesfeaturing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson” and CBS’ Million Dollar Milepartially produced by LeBron James’ production company Springhill Entertainment.

I’ve always been a fan of the original, NBC – and even the UK – versions of American Gladiators and I’m glad to see talks of this game show potentially returning in today’s television age of revivals. I’m looking forward to what will become of this version, should this project gain anymore traction. If you want to check out any or all 161 episodes from the original version, head to SI TV for more information on how to register and access your free trial to the on-demand streaming site.

In the meantime, take a look at an episode of the lesser-known AG kids spinoff Gladiators 2000, hosted by Ryan Seacrest, in the video below.